So I launched a Patreon

Launching a Patreon has been on my mind for a long time for a variety of reasons, and surprisingly enough, making money wasn’t really the first one. Sure, it’s a nice feeling to get paid for your work, and have people value what you do enough to reward you for it, but my motivations weren’t as much the money as you may think. It also feels like I’m in an odd spot trying to explain (or justify) why I launched a Patreon, and I feel like the imposter syndrome is hitting hard, which a lot of creatives fight and struggle with all the time. Needless to say, I have a lot of feelings about this, and I hope to lay them out here.

Why a Patreon? Because I feel a severe lack of motivation to do things that I enjoy doing, like writing about, creating for, and being a part of the D&D community. What an odd situation to be in, right? Lacking motivation to do what you enjoy. But it can happen, and I’m there. My real day-job has me super busy, my family demands a lot of my time (and I gladly provide it), but I feel like what I consider super important “me-time” is slipping away, and so I thought that maybe treating it as a job would help me get motivated enough to get back into it.

There was also another motivating factor–my mom. I lost my mom a year and a half ago to diabetes, a horrible disease. It was unexpected, but not surprising. She was in bad shape, and although I wasn’t expecting her to die when she did, I knew her days with us were numbered. My mother always supported and was very proud of me. She was proud of my professional accomplishments in TV (my real job), my hobbies, my creativity, etc. She was a fan of her son! And so I thought that a Patreon supporting creativity should also honor her memory in some way, so I am donating some of the funds raised through the Patreon to diabetes research in her honor. The Patreon page has more details about who gets the money, etc…

So what do I hope to provide with the Patreon? Well, a lot of what I currently have been doing for the past decade, but now formalized, and with stakeholders keeping me accountable… I’ve kept the tiers low on purpose, throwing me a buck a month for what I already do doesn’t seem like too much, and the highest tier allows for sponsorships, which I never really went out and looked for. So I want to write more about rpg’s, create for D&D, make more videos, podcasting is something I definitely want to continue doing… I want to offer commentary, reviews, etc… The things you’ve come to expect from me, but now hopefully with more consistency and polish. All while supporting a good cause in the process.

Here’s where you can find me, and all the platforms I plan to use to publish on as part of my Patreon…

I’m not going to lie. I am a bit nervous about this. I didn’t have to do this, but I wanted to. I’ve been part of the community for a long time, and falling flat on my face and failing to live up to expectations is a big fear.